


Nothing's Forever, Dude

by donniedont



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexuality, M/M, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:23:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donniedont/pseuds/donniedont
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Carol trade phones when they go to parties to prevent embarrassing drunk texting.  When Carol looks through Tony's drafts, she makes two discoveries about him.  College AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing's Forever, Dude

**Author's Note:**

> I figured it was only appropriate to write some Marvel fic in honor of the release of Iron Man 3. It also happens to feature my bb gurl Carol, because I love her. This is a part of a alternative universe idea I've been tinkering around with. If you want to read more of it, please let me know in the comments!
> 
> Title is a lyric from "Vocal Coach" by Bomb the Music Industry!
> 
>  **Warning:** Both Carol and Tony drink in this. It is implied that they aren't on the best terms with alcohol, but it does not go into detail about it. Also, this does briefly discuss homophobia/apprehension to come out because of it.

Tony and Carol were not entirely sure how they got into the party. It was for some pharmacy frat which Tony could almost pass as a brother of if he wasn’t a grad student.

“Phones,” Carol announced as they entered the house, avoiding eye contact with anyone that turned their heads toward them.

“Oh, right, here you go,” Tony grumbled, passing is wide smartphone to her.

Carol passed her scratched up flip phone to him. “I have to go for a run early tomorrow, so we can’t be here forever.”

“And I thought I was the one that did too much,” he muttered.

Carol shrugged, attempting to fit his massive phone into the pocket of her jeans. When the fabric refused to stretch, she flipped it around in her hand. “You don’t mind, do you?” she asked, turning her head to see that Tony was already being whisked away by a pretty girl with olive skin.

“Couldn’t keep a low profile if you tried, couldn’t you?” she asked. She made her way to the keg and got herself some beer, trying her best to get a corner of the phone in her pocket before she reached over. She politely refused a man’s offer of “the stronger stuff” before she got the phone back into her hand. She could already feel that she wanted to leave, but she paid five dollars to get in here and she wasn’t going to leave until she had at least six dollars worth of watered down beer (if she was desperate enough, she could always try “the stronger stuff” that guy was offering).

She sat down on a chair and felt it shift under her weight. Tony’s phone vibrated and she brought the screen to her face, briefly considering changing the lock screen to something embarrassing until a guy with blond hair approached her.

She lowered the phone from her face and squinted at him. His vest with worn patches and tired red boots read that he was someone she may have met before at a basement show. “May I help you?” she asked, her tone harsher than she intended.

“Are you Carol Danvers?” he asked.

She nodded, hoping that he wasn’t in a class with her or from somewhere that she should have been able to recognize his face. “Yeah. What’s up?” she asked.

“Ah, sorry. Wasn’t entirely prepared to see you here. But… I’m Steve Rogers. I saw your band perform last weekend. I designed the flyer for the show.”

“You drew that?” She ripped a copy off a wall and slipped it in her guitar case before she left the house. It had a big orange cat on it that reminded her of her own. “I really liked that flyer!”

“Thanks. I mean, I’m a visual arts major, so I kind of hope that it looks go. But, anyway…” he rubbed the back of his head and cleared his throat. “Anyway, I should probably leave you alone. I think I saw your band mate here. I’m sure you’re with him.”

“Who, Tony? He’s already left me to fend for myself. Feel free to hang out with me. I certainly don’t mind.”

Steve grinned, sitting down next to her chair. He looked up at her and cleared his throat. “So what brings you here?”

“Not really sure. Tony told me that this was happening, so we went. I feel as though we technically had to be invited, but we always find our way in.” She brushed her knuckles against the shaved sides of her head. “How did you get in?”

“My housemate knows people in the frat. Bruce Banner. He’s not in the pharmacy program, but I think he had some chem classes with some of the guys here. They kept in touch.” He brought his knees under his chin. “What year are you?”

Carol tilted her head away from him to conceal her eye roll. “Oh, I’m a sophomore. How about you? You said you’re in the art program here, right?” She took a gulp of her beer and swirled it around her cup.

“Yes. I am. I’m a freshman.”

“Making quite a name for yourself doing flyers and all that as a freshman. Good on you.” She unlocked Tony’s phone and began to run her finger through the apps. 

“What do you study?”

Her finger hovered over his Facebook app and for a brief moment, she contemplated changing his status. “Oh, not entirely sure yet. Probably something with women’s and gender studies, but you know. What do you do with a degree in that? I’ve got a month or two before I have to make a formal decision.” She was holding out that being in the Air Force ROTC would get her in the air. That was the only goal she really had. What degree she ended up in by the time she got out of there was nothing more than a placeholder. 

“I get that a lot,” Steve said, laughing nervously. “Thankfully, my mother’s always been really supportive of my interest in art.”

“That’s good to hear,” she said, wondering if Tony would even read a text if she sent one. She decided to make an attempt anyway, opening up the messaging app. She noticed the various conversations he was having with people, most recently the one between the two of them before he picked her up at her residence hall. She also noticed that he had at least twenty drafts listed, piquing her curiosity. She took a sip of her beer and continued to hover her finger on the drafts folder, wondering if she was going to be able to forgive herself if she went through with it.

Carol came up with the phone exchange idea. Apparently, the two of them were notorious for sending text messages to exes after a few hours of drinking and the best way to stop it was to not have their phones. For the most part, Carol was good about keeping Tony’s phone untouched when they were out. While Steve seemed nice enough, she couldn’t help but wonder how Tony, who was possibly the best at responding to texts out of any of her friends in terms of timing, could have so many drafts.

“I must be boring you,” Steve noted.

“No, no! I just… am looking at something. Give me two seconds.” She broke her eye contact with the screen to inspect her red cup. “Oh, when did I drink all of that?” she asked. She couldn’t even recall when that could have happened.

“Would you like me to get you more? I need some myself,” he said.

“Could you? I promise I’ll be done when I get back,” Carol reasoned, passing the cup to him. She fluffed up the longer part of her hair and sighed. She knew she drank a lot for a college student, but even she found that to be quite excessive. 

“I’ll be right back,” Steve said, grabbing the cup from her and leaving.

She waved at him, wondering if she was putting too much faith in him for someone she just met. She watched him from the top of the phone, pleased to see that he made a beeline for the keg and did not appear to be tampering with it in any way.

While she was watching Steve, she clicked on the folder and was greeted to twenty drafts, all of which unsent messages to Tony’s friend, Rhodey. She met him once or twice. He was in the Air Force and Tony found himself absolutely delighted by the thought of two of his friends having such a thing in common. She wasn’t able to speak to him too much, but he was nice. He went to MIT with Tony for undergrad and knew how to wrangle Tony sober or drunk, which was quite impressive to her.

She scrolled through, selecting a random one to read. She muttered the words under her breath, forgetting to check to see if Steve was not disappearing with her drink. “Hey Rhodey I know I shouldn’t be texting you this stuff, but whatever. I wanted to let you know that I am pretty sure I love you or something. Don’t freak out. You don’t even have to answer this. Just thought you should know.” She gasped, going back to read another one. “Hey Rhodey. Just letting you know I like guys, too. So here’s your sign.” She gritted her teeth, selecting another one. By the time Steve came back with her drink, she had read at least six, each one going over two facts: That Tony was some semblance of queer and that he had feelings for Rhodey.

“Did you finish up whatever you were doing?” Steve asked, passing the cup to her.

She grabbed the cup from him, wincing when the beer sloshed against her fingers. She chugged it and dropped the cup on the ground. “I’m so sorry, Steve. I need to find my band mate. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Is everything all right?” he asked, picking the cup up from the ground.

“Not really. But I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Carol muttered, getting out of the messaging app and locking the phone again. “You said you saw him earlier. Can you tell me where he went?”

“He was outside last I check. He was chatting with some women. Do you need me to come with you?”

Carol shook her head. “Nah, this is… band business. Unfortunately. But, hey. We should talk. I mean, actually talk. Like… lunch or something like that, if you’re into it. You have a Facebook? I’ll add you on Facebook.”

“I’m pretty sure I liked your band on there? So just check out Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’s page and find me there? I’m Steve Rogers.”

“Sounds great. I’ll add you as soon as I get back. Enjoy the party!” Carol said, bolting out of the room and toward the back porch.

She wasn’t even sure why she was going to leave like this. She wasn’t even buzzed yet. It wasn’t her business about what Tony did (or didn’t) send via text message to their mutual friends. 

Moments like this made her wonder if her friends were right about how overwhelmingly stubborn she was at times.

She launched herself out of the crowded doorway onto the back porch. Sure enough, Tony was sitting against the railing with a woman leaning against his legs. He was speaking to her closely, his face pressed up against hers. 

Carol cleared her throat, crossing her arms as she glared at him.

The woman was the first person to notice, pulling away to tap on his shoulder. “Ah, someone wants you…” she started.

Tony turned his head toward her and raised his eyebrows. “Carol. Is everything okay?”

Carol opened her mouth and realized that a porch full of party goers was most likely not a great place to have any sort of conversation she was considering. “Ah, well, I gotta go. You know, I have to… run and all that in the morning. I was hoping you’d walk me home.”

Tony nodded, gently nudging the woman off of him. “I can walk you home. Not a problem,” he told her, waving his hand at the woman. “You have my number?” he asked. She nodded her head and already found another person to talk to.

“You got everything?” he asked, standing at her side.

Carol nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”

They slipped out of the party and walked toward Carol’s residence hall.

“Oh, we should trade our phones back,” Tony noted, reaching out toward Carol with her flip phone in his hand.

Carol grabbed it and slipped it into her pocket. She passed Tony’s massive phone to him and flexed her hand several times before she slipped it into her pocket. “We’ve been friends for… how long at this point?” she asked, unsure of where she was going with it.

“Oh. Since… the first weekend we’ve been here. So… about seven months?”

Carol nodded her head. “And we’ve been band mates for about that long, too.”

“Yeah. Where are you going with this?”

“I don’t know… I just wanted to let you know that if you ever want to talk to me about anything, I’m here for you? Like, if you need to vent or something, I’m around. I mean, we’re stuck with each other for pretty much ever at this point. Especially if we actually go through doing a small tour this summer. We might as well get things out in the open. Right?”

“What kind of secrets are we talking about here? I have quite a few that I really don’t plan on anybody hearing, no offense.”

Carol nodded. “That’s fair enough. I have secrets like that, too. I just wanted you to know that if you have any other kinds you are okay with sharing, I’m here.”

They dodged a large group of people heading toward another party and walked into a parking lot. As they squeezed between poorly parked cars, Carol realized that she was not going to be able to speak to Tony like usual unless she confessed to what she saw on his phone. “Maybe we shouldn’t do the phone exchange thing anymore,” she said, freezing when she accidentally folded a mirror. She readjusted it before she kept walking forward.

“Wasn’t that your idea? Besides, I think it’s a pretty good system to have,” Tony noted. He faced her as he dodged another truck and jumped on to the curb. 

“I may have looked at some of your texts,” Carol confessed, walking at his side on the blacktop.

“Oh. That’s not too bad. I mean, I looked at your texts once, but they were all to me or Jess, so I didn’t really keep looking.”

Carol nodded her head, tugging on a handful of blond hair before she said, “I saw your drafts.”

Tony froze, nearly toppling over himself. He growled, yanking his hoodie over himself and breathing deeply before he said, “So that’s the kind of secret you were talking about.”

“There’s no shame in it,” Carol said, hoping that her voice came off steady. “I mean… about any of it.”

“The whole liking guys part or the whole being in love with your best friend part?”

“So you _do_ love him?” She hadn’t heard much from Tony in regards toward relationships. There was a brief moment in which he was dating a girl named Pepper that she met a few times, but they always seemed closer before and after they were dating, as opposed to during. 

“I mean… yeah. I do,” Tony said, finally pulling his head out from under his hoodie. 

“I don’t blame you. He’s really nice. And he understands you better than any of our friends. Including myself. It makes sense to me.”

Tony smirked, continuing forward. His scuffed up shoes lined up against the top of the curb as he kept moving forward. “Well, I am. Into him. Into guys. Whatever you were looking for confirmation about. But, like… I haven’t really acted much on the guy front. As I’m sure you’ve noticed. Not since undergrad.”

“If you need, like… I don’t know… help with that…”

“Talk to you? I know the trend, don’t worry. I just… not yet.”

“So are you ever going to send one of those texts to him?”

Tony shook his head. “Hell no. Could you imagine how disastrous that would be?”

Carol shook her head. “Seeing as though I’ve only met the guy two or three times and every single time he seemed to be pretty nice, I can’t really tell how this would be disastrous.”

“It doesn’t matter how he feels about me being into guys or even if _he_ is into guys, too. He’s in the Air Force. Like… this type of stuff doesn’t work out.”

“I’m pretty sure there was pretty big strides made against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell recently, Tony.”

“Doesn’t mean that people actually listen to it.”

Carol opened her mouth and quickly shut it. She already heard more than enough ugly remarks during training with the ROTC. Each and every time she called people out on it, but she assumed that it was only because she scared people out of saying anything else in front of her as opposed to actually evaluating the way they viewed the world. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Exactly,” Tony said, jumping off the curb and crossing the street. “It’s not going to happen. Not even because I want it to or don’t want it to. It just isn’t meant to be.”

Carol took the lead, following the sidewalk to her residence hall. She wasn’t one to pity Tony. Even though he seemed to have quite a few issues, there wasn’t any need to pity a guy that was going to inherit a huge company and could throw away his money by means of traveling places and getting master’s degrees. But in that moment, she could feel the slightest bit for him.

“Well, here’s your place,” Tony noted, “I guess I’m going to get back to mine.”

“Do you want to stay over?” she asked, “I’m getting up early, but I don’t mind you there.”

“What about your roommate?”

“She’s not here. She’s home for the weekend.”

Tony nodded his head, kicking the toes of his feet into the concrete. “Is it okay if I share the bed with you?”

Carol smiled and nodded her head. “Absolutely. I kind of expected it.”

Tony grinned and followed her into the residence hall. Carol signed him in and brought him upstairs, handing him an extra toothbrush and offering anything necessary for him to get ready for bed. When they finally laid down, Tony curled up, facing the wall. Carol sighed loudly, fitting against him and holding him close. He grabbed her hands and pressed them against his chest, curling up tighter around her.

She decided that when she got back from running she was going to tell him that they can continue swapping phones at parties. She was just going to have to make sure that she didn’t go through his drafts anymore.


End file.
